Upper Pleistocene loess stratigraphy in the southern Yenisei Siberia area

The loess-like sediments along the river Yenisei provide a detailed palaeoclimatic archive of the last interglacial/glacial cycle for the southern part of Central Siberia. The loess-like sediments were formed by aeolian, alluvial, lacustrine-alluvial, slope wash and flood processes. Chernozem or chernozem-like palaeosols formed during the interglacial and interstadials. The loess-like sediments and palaeosols at the sections of Tatysh and Cholnokovo near Krasnoyarsk and Berezov were investigated with thermoluminescence and infrared optically stimulated luminescence dating methods. Luminescence dating suggests that the oldest sediments below the lowermost chernozem formed during the penultimate glaciation. II is likely that the lowermost chemozem at the Tatysh, Cholnokovo and Berezov sections formed during oxygen isotope stage 5. A large hiatus occurs above and below this lowermost chernozem, indicating that most of the last interglacial and early glacial record is missing in the sections investigated. The intercalated duplicate chernozee-like palaeosols in the upper part of the section formed during an interstadial within oxygen isotope stage 3, indicating forest-steppe climatic conditions between 25 and 35 ka sp. The youngest loess-like sediments, overlying the duplicate palaeosol horizon, apparently have a very high sediment-accumulation rate.